


one hundred beats per second

by colloquialrhapsodist



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Teenage Crush, wordcount: 500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 21:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5063992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colloquialrhapsodist/pseuds/colloquialrhapsodist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day, she asks to feel Ruby's heartbeat. To understand, she says; to compare and contrast her own internal data from these experiences.</p><p>500 words, nothing special.</p>
            </blockquote>





	one hundred beats per second

**Author's Note:**

> Short and sweet because I'm gay.

When she is with Ruby, there is a beat that no one else can hear.

Penny sits up late at night, arms wrapped around her legs; her father has informed her that a good night's rest is something that not only good girls get, but something required for her systems to operate properly. But sometimes, when she closes her eyes, she just feels Ruby's fingers curling over hers. She pinches the hem of her nightdress, rubbing the fabric between her fingers, to banish the thought and stim her way to sleep. She hears it again -- how everything goes quiet and soft, how she feels like there is something gentle and red pulsating beneath her eyelids. She does not have a heartbeat -- she requires no such pulsating mechanism to keep her body going -- so it can't be that.

One day, she asks to feel Ruby's heartbeat. To understand, she says; to compare and contrast her own internal data from these experiences.

"It's very confusing," Penny finishes in broad daylight to a Ruby as red as the lace on her combat skirt. "I haven't the slightest idea of what to make of what the sensation could be. I even checked my programming files. Perhaps it is my aura manifesting itself? But why in this manner?"

"Yeah, it's... weird. Maybe you've just got a song stuck in your head?"

"That _does_ happen quite a lot! But I would like to consult my other resources, and gather all the data I can."

"Right... so, you mean, like...?" Ruby lays a hand over the chest cavity wherein her heart resides.

"Your wrist will suffice," Penny says. 

"Haha, oh. I shoulda figured -- here, um -- "

Ruby extends an arm, using her other hand to tug the sleeve up an inch or two. Eyes narrowed in concentration, Penny lays two fingers on the veiny spot in Ruby's wrist -- a criss-cross of pale blues, an expression of her humanness that is more a pretty curiosity than repulsive -- and listens very, very hard.

It's a beat. Fast and feathery, a bird at nervous rest beneath her fingers. She counts each one, for a very precise fifteen seconds.

"Interesting," Penny says, retracting her hand. "The standard heart rate for a human at rest should be around sixty beats per minute. If my calculations are correct, you are hovering somewhere around the eighty range."

"Gee, thanks, doc," Ruby says, pulling out that familiar expression, a half-smile and eyes flickering to the side. "Are we done with the check up?"

"It's very similar," Penny informs her, recognizing that brand of sarcasm (she's correct! she's starting to understand!). "But not the same. Thank you for the data."

"It's no problem, Penny." Penny notices that, when catching the right light, Ruby's gray eyes sparkle in a fashion not unlike the distant stars at night. It is a curious comparison. "Anything for a friend, you know?"

The beat picks up in her head again. Double time.

She'd wager it's at about one hundred beats per second.


End file.
